A Web site I visited recently which seeks to explain Catholic doctrine and beliefs to Protestants contained the statement “Protestants do not believe in confession.” The statement is incorrect insofar as Protestants do not practice auricular confession (confessing ones’ sins to a priest in order to receive forgiveness). That statement along with others I have…
In previous articles we have examined reasons to study Christianity, we have defined who God is and how He has revealed Himself, paying special attention to the Bible. Today we turn our attention to the creation of the world. A question that comes immediately to mind when examining creation is “why?” We can’t help but…
This week’s featured blog is The Irvins. This site is run by Tim Irvin (aka Jabbok), is dedicated to Reformed Christianity and is updated on a near-daily basis. It also contains a wealth of information about Reformed creeds and beliefs (scroll down a bit and look for the menu on the left side of the…
This is the fortieth and final chapter of The Purpose Driven Life. As I expected, it wraps up with a review of the five sections and encouragement to develop a personal purpose statement. Rick Warren begins the chapter with a discussion about the importance of a personal “Life Purpose Statement.” Such a statement will keep…
Blessed are the balanced; they shall outlast everyone. In chapter thirty nine of The Purpose Driven Life Rick Warren describes a life of balance – a life that is equally devoted to each of our five purposes. He provides five pointers for keeping on track with a balanced life. The reason I need to pass…
Day thirty eight of The Purpose Driven Life discusses the difference between a worldly Christian and a world-class Christian. Whereas worldly Christians are most concerned about themselves and their own happiness and blessing, world-class Christians are far more concerned with their mission of reaching the lost. As the world shrinks through increased transportation and communication…
What Is The Bible? The Bible is, at the most obvious level, a book. Admittedly that does not sound like anything remarkable. The word Bible is simply the Greek word for “book,” and is the same root from which we derive the words “bibliography” or “bibliophile.” Yet the Bible is exceptional among books as it…
God has given me a life message to share. From the moment I became a Christian I became a messenger of God. I have a life message that I am to share with unbelievers and this message contains four parts. Of the five purposes Rick Warren has outlined in this book, this last purpose, being…
Day thirty six of The Purpose Driven Life begins the discussion of my fifth and final purpose, “made for a mission.” God is at work in the world and He wants me to join Him in doing this work. I am to have a ministry within the body of believers and a mission to the…
In this article we turn our attention to what Christians believe about the ways God has revealed Himself to humans. We have already looked at this briefly, so today we will review the two ways God has revealed Himself to us and provide some details about each. In a previous article we answered the question…
God loves to use weak people. In reality if He wishes to use people to do His work on earth He does not have much choice, for we all have imperfections: physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. The important thing is not whether or not we have weaknesses, but what we do with them. If we…
Day thirty four of The Purpose Driven Life continues to explore servanthood. The book seems to be getting quite repetitive at this point, as this chapter finds Rick Warren simply restating things he has already said several times. He provides five attitudes that will be found in the mindset of a servant. Bible Passages Warren…
I serve God by serving others. Whereas the world defines greatness by how many others serve me, God defines greatness by how many people I serve. Rick Warren provides several ways I can discern if I have a servant’s heart: Some of God’s greatest servants are people we have never heard of. They are people…
Because today is Sunday, this is an abbreviated look at day thirty two of The Purpose Driven Life. Warren continues his discussion about finding my SHAPE. He gives several pointers to help in discovering this. First, I need to begin by assessing my gifts and abilities. One of the best ways of doing this is…
Today Rick Warren continues the discussion about my SHAPE. Yesterday he discussed Spiritual Gifts and Heart and today discusses Abilities, Personality and Experiences. Every person has some natural talents and abilities that have been given to us by God. Each of these abilities can be used either for or against Him and obviously God wants…
I was shaped to serve God. Just as every creature in the world was created to play a specific role in the world, so I was created to do a specific thing. I was created to fulfill a specific ministry. God gave me abilities, interests, talents, gifts, personality and life experiences so I could use…
Day twenty nine of The Purpose Driven Life begins the section on my fourth purpose which is serving God. I was put on this earth to make a contribution and to make a difference with my life. This purpose is my “ministry” or service. When we die God is going to compare how much time…
Having settled the rules, let’s move on to a discussion of why an understanding of Christianity is important. As I mentioned at the outset, I hope to answer the question “Why should I bother learning about Christianity?” As a person working in the computer industry, I am often told about wonderful new pieces of hardware…
Day twenty eight of The Purpose Driven Life is the final chapter devoted to my third purpose which is becoming like Christ. Warren closes this section with a discussion of the time it takes to mature in my faith. There are no shortcuts and no easy answers to reaching Christian maturity. It takes time and…
A Starting Place I have been asked by a few different visitors to this site to write a series about basic Christianity. At first I hesitated, thinking that surely there were many, many similar series on the Internet that I could direct people to. I was only partially correct. There are many courses available, but…